1976 Italian Grand Prix

 1976 Italian Grand Prix

Racing data
13th of 16 races of the 1976 Automobile World Championship
Surname:	XLVII Gran Premio d'Italia
Date:	September 12, 1976
Place:	Monza
Course:	Autodromo Nazionale di Monza
Length:	301.6 km in 52 laps of 5.8 km
Weather:	cloudy but warm
Pole position
Driver:	Jacques Laffite	Ligier
Time:	1: 41.35 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Ronnie Peterson	March
Time:	1: 41.3 min
Podium
First:	Ronnie Peterson	March
Second:	Clay Regazzoni	Ferrari
Third:	Jacques Laffite	Ligier

The 1976 Italian Grand Prix took place on September 12 at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza and was the thirteenth race of the 1976 World Automobile Championship .

Reports

Ronnie Peterson in March 761

Carlos Reutemann in the Ferrari 312T2

background

Due to modifications to the first chicane and the installation of a second chicane between the Curva Grande and the Lesmo curves, the length of the traditional route in Monza had increased to exactly 5.8 kilometers.

The return of Niki Lauda, who is still leading in the world championship standings , six weeks after his serious accident at the German Grand Prix was the sensation of the weekend. That this was a surprise not only for the professional world, but also for Scuderia Ferrari , was shown by the fact that Carlos Reutemann had meanwhile been signed up as a substitute driver and entered for the Italian Grand Prix. Due to his dissatisfaction with the vulnerable Alfa Romeo engines, he prematurely terminated his works driver contract with Brabham . As a result, Ferrari launched three cars this weekend.

Team boss Bernie Ecclestone temporarily bridged the gap that Reutemann left at Brabham with Rolf Stommelen . Guy Edwards returned to the Hesketh cockpit.

Otto Stuppacher , whose registration as a private driver at his home race had been rejected four weeks earlier, has now been approved by the organizers of the Italian GP as a driver of a Tyrrell 007 .

training

The first two units of the qualification training on Friday took place in rainy conditions. As a result, none of the participants achieved a lap time of less than two minutes.

The times that were achieved on the following day in better weather conditions then counted for the starting grid. Jacques Laffite was able to secure his first pole position in Formula 1. He shared the front row of the grid with Tyrrell pilot Jody Scheckter . There followed Brabham team driver Carlos Pace next to the second Tyrrell P34 of Patrick Depailler . Niki Lauda and Hans-Joachim Stuck formed the third row.

Arturo Merzario and Otto Stuppacher failed to qualify for the starting field, which was limited to a maximum of 26 vehicles, and then left.

John Watson had achieved the eighth fastest lap time ahead of the two McLaren of James Hunt and Jochen Mass . However, illegal fuel was found in the tanks of the vehicles of these three pilots after training. As a result, the lap times that the three drivers had achieved on Saturday were canceled. However, the times achieved in the rain the day before were not sufficient for a qualification, so that according to the rules Merzario and Stuppacher should have moved up into the starting field. However, since these had already left, Hunt and Mass were approved for the last two starting places.

In favor of John Watson, Hesketh driver Guy Edwards also decided not to participate in the race. In return, the Penske team reimbursed him for the travel expenses for the following overseas race in Canada . Watson was then able to take part in the race from last place on the grid.

run

In the first chicane, Scheckter took the lead ahead of Laffite and Pace. The latter, however, was overtaken by Patrick Depailler, Ronnie Peterson and Carlos Reutemann during the first lap . Lauda was twelfth at the end of the first lap, while Hunt, Mass and Watson worked their way forward from their back positions. However, this race to catch up ended for Mass after two laps due to misfiring.

While Scheckter initially successfully defended his lead, Laffite was pushed to fourth place by Peterson and Depailler. Clay Regazzoni , who was catching up quickly, also passed Laffite on the eleventh lap. In the same lap, Peterson took the lead from Scheckter and defended it to the finish. The most promising pursuer Lauda in the fight for the world championship, James Hunt, meanwhile retired in twelfth place due to a spin. Scheckter was gradually overtaken by Depailler, Regazzoni, Laffite and Lauda during the following laps.

Due to engine problems, Depailler dropped from second to sixth at the end of the race. Regazzoni finished second ahead of Laffite and Lauda, ​​who achieved a remarkable fourth place on his comeback despite an incomplete recovery. Jackie Stewart described this as the most heroic performance he has ever seen in any sport.

Ronnie Peterson celebrated his eighth Grand Prix victory. This was the third and final success in March's team history .

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC	1	Niki Lauda	Ferrari 312T2	Ferrari 015 3.0 F12	G
	2	Clay Regazzoni
	35	Carlos Reutemann
Eleven Team Tyrrell	3	Jody Scheckter	Tyrrell P34	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	G
	4th	Patrick Depailler
John Player Team Lotus	5	Mario Andretti	Lotus 77		G
	6th	Gunnar Nilsson
Martini Racing	7th	Rolf Stommelen	Brabham BT45	Alfa Romeo 115-12 3.0 F12	G
	8th	Carlos Pace
Beta Team March	9	Vittorio Brambilla	March 761	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	G
March engineering	10	Ronnie Peterson			G
	34	Hans-Joachim Stuck
Marlboro Team McLaren	11	James Hunt	McLaren M23		G
	12	Jochen Mass	McLaren M26
Shadow Racing Team	16	Tom Pryce	Shadow DN8		G
	17th	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Shadow DN5B
Team Surtees	18th	Brett Lunger	Surtees TS19		G
	19th	Alan Jones
Walter Wolf Racing	20th	Arturo Merzario	Williams FW05		G
Team Ensign	22nd	Jacky Ickx	Ensign N176		G
Hesketh Racing with Rizla Penthouse	24	Harald Ertl	Hesketh 308D		G
Penthouse Rizla Racing with Hesketh	25th	Guy Edwards
Ligier Gitanes	26th	Jacques Laffite	Ligier JS5	Matra MS73 3.0 V12	G
Citibank Team Penske	28	John Watson	Penske PC4	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	G
Copersucar-Fittipaldi	30th	Emerson Fittipaldi	Copersucar FD04		G
Scuderia Gulf Rondini	37	Alessandro Pesenti-Rossi	Tyrrell 007		G
Team Norev Racing with BS Fabrications	38	Henri Pescarolo	Surtees TS19		G
ÖASC Racing Team	39	Otto Stuppacher	Tyrrell 007		G
HB Bewaking Alarm Systems	40	Larry Perkins	Boro 001		G

Classifications

Starting grid

Item	driver	constructor	time	Ø speed	begin
01	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	1: 41.35	206.019 km / h	01
02	Jody Scheckter	Tyrrell-Ford	1: 41.38	205.958 km / h	02
03	Carlos Pace	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	1: 41.53	205.654 km / h	03
04th	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	1: 42.06	204.586 km / h	04th
05	Niki Lauda	Ferrari	1: 42.09	204.525 km / h	05
06th	Hans-Joachim Stuck	March-Ford	1: 42.18	204.345 km / h	06th
07th	Carlos Reutemann	Ferrari	1: 42.38	203.946 km / h	07th
08th	Ronnie Peterson	March-Ford	1: 42.64	203.429 km / h	08th
09	Clay Regazzoni	Ferrari	1: 42.96	202.797 km / h	09
10	Jacky Ickx	Ensign-Ford	1: 43.29	202.149 km / h	10
11	Rolf Stommelen	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	1: 43.29	202.149 km / h	11
12	Gunnar Nilsson	Lotus Ford	1: 43.30	202.130 km / h	12
13	Larry Perkins	Boro-Ford	1: 43.32	202.091 km / h	13
14th	Mario Andretti	Lotus Ford	1: 43.34	202.051 km / h	14th
15th	Tom Pryce	Shadow Ford	1: 43.63	201.486 km / h	15th
16	Vittorio Brambilla	March-Ford	1: 43.94	200.885 km / h	16
17th	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Shadow Ford	1: 44.05	200.673 km / h	17th
18th	Alan Jones	Surtees-Ford	1: 44.41	199.981 km / h	18th
19th	Harald Ertl	Hesketh-Ford	1: 44.56	199.694 km / h	19th
20th	Emerson Fittipaldi	Copersucar-Ford	1: 44.57	199.675 km / h	20th
21st	Alessandro Pesenti-Rossi	Tyrrell-Ford	1: 44.62	199.579 km / h	21st
22nd	Henri Pescarolo	Surtees-Ford	1: 45.12	198.630 km / h	22nd
23	Guy Edwards	Hesketh-Ford	1: 45.79	197.372 km / h	DNS
24	Brett Lunger	Surtees-Ford	1: 46.48	196.093 km / h	23
25th	Arturo Merzario	Wolf-Williams-Ford	1: 47.31	194.576 km / h	DNS
26th	Otto Stuppacher	Tyrrell-Ford	1: 55.22	181.219 km / h	DNS
27	James Hunt 1	McLaren-Ford	2: 08.76	162.162 km / h	24
28	Jochen Mass 1	McLaren-Ford	2: 11.06	159.316 km / h	25th
29	John Watson 1	Penske-Ford	2: 13.95	155.879 km / h	26th

¹ The qualifying times achieved on Saturday were revoked from James Hunt, Jochen Mass and John Watson due to the use of non-compliant fuel. The lap times shown are from Friday.

run

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap	Failure reason
01	Ronnie Peterson	March-Ford	52	0	1: 30: 35.6	08th	1: 41.3
02	Clay Regazzoni	Ferrari	52	0	+ 2.3	09	1: 41.4
03	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	52	0	+ 3.0	01	1: 41.5
04th	Niki Lauda	Ferrari	52	0	+ 19.4	05	1: 42.1
05	Jody Scheckter	Tyrrell-Ford	52	0	+ 19.5	02	1: 42.2
06th	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	52	0	+ 35.7	04th	1: 42.5
07th	Vittorio Brambilla	March-Ford	52	0	+ 43.9	16	1: 43.2
08th	Tom Pryce	Shadow Ford	52	0	+ 52.9	15th	1: 42.5
09	Carlos Reutemann	Ferrari	52	0	+ 57.1	07th	1: 42.6
10	Jacky Ickx	Ensign-Ford	52	0	+1: 12.4	10	1: 43.0
11	John Watson	Penske-Ford	52	0	+1: 42.2	26th	1: 43.3
12	Alan Jones	Surtees-Ford	51	1	+ 1 lap	18th	1: 42.7
13	Gunnar Nilsson	Lotus Ford	51	1	+ 1 lap	12	1: 44.1
14th	Brett Lunger	Surtees-Ford	50	1	+ 2 rounds	23	1: 44.8
15th	Emerson Fittipaldi	Copersucar-Ford	50	1	+ 2 rounds	20th	1: 44.7
16	Harald Ertl	Hesketh-Ford	49	0	DNF	19th	1: 43.6	broken half-wave
17th	Henri Pescarolo	Surtees-Ford	49	0	+ 3 rounds	22nd	1: 46.1
18th	Alessandro Pesenti-Rossi	Tyrrell-Ford	49	0	+ 3 rounds	21st	1: 44.6
19th	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Shadow Ford	47	0	+ 5 rounds	17th	1: 44.4
-	Rolf Stommelen	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	41	1	DNF	11	1: 44.6	defective ignition
-	Hans-Joachim Stuck	March-Ford	23	0	DNF	06th	1: 43.5	collision
-	Mario Andretti	Lotus Ford	23	0	DNF	14th	1: 43.4	collision
-	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford	11	0	DNF	24	1: 43.0	Lathe operator
-	Larry Perkins	Boro-Ford	08th	0	DNF	13	1: 45.2	Engine failure
-	Carlos Pace	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	04th	0	DNF	03	1: 46.0	Engine failure
-	Jochen Mass	McLaren-Ford	02	0	DNF	25th	2: 04.7	defective distributor

World Cup stands after the race

The first six of the race got 9, 6, 4, 3, 2 and 1 point (s) respectively.

Driver ranking

Item driver constructor Points 01  Niki Lauda Ferrari 64 02  James Hunt McLaren 47 03  Jody Scheckter Tyrrell 40 04th  Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 28 05  Patrick Depailler Tyrrell 27 06th  Jacques Laffite Ligier 20th 07th  John Watson Penske 19th 08th  Jochen Mass McLaren 14th 09  Gunnar Nilsson lotus 10 10  Tom Pryce Shadow 10

Item driver constructor Points 11  Ronnie Peterson March 10 12  Mario Andretti Parnelli / Lotus 9 13  Carlos Pace Brabham 7th 14th  Hans-Joachim Stuck March 6th 15th  Alan Jones Surtees 4th 16  Carlos Reutemann Brabham 3 17th  Emerson Fittipaldi Copersucar 3 18th  Chris Amon Ensign 2 19th  Vittorio Brambilla March 1 20th  Rolf Stommelen Brabham 1

Constructors' championship

Item constructor Points 01  Ferrari 76 02  Tyrrell 53 03  McLaren 52 04th  Ligier 20th 05  Penske 19th 06th  March 17th 07th  lotus 16

Item constructor Points 08th  Shadow 10 09  Brabham 9 10  Surtees 4th 11  Copersucar 3 12  Ensign 2 13  Parnelli 1

Individual evidence

1. ↑ "Training"  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Motorsportarchiv.de; accessed on April 9, 2012)  
2. ^ "Report" (accessed April 9, 2012)
3. ^ Grand Prix Racing since 1950 - Triumphs and Tragedies , Mark Hughes, Heel Verlag: Königswinter, ISBN 978-3-86852-084-2 , p. 194
4. ↑ "World Cup stands"  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Motorsportarchiv.de; accessed on April 9, 2012)  

Web links

Commons : Italian Grand Prix 1976  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

• Race result on the official Formula 1 website